The selection of former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) general secretary Kemar Stuart as the party’s candidate for The City in the next general election is not sitting well with the branch.
A spokesman for the branch’s executive, who spoke to Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity ahead of Sunday’s announcement of Stuart’s selection, said the candidate had been picked without either the input of the branch or official notification of the decision.
During the DLP’s annual conference on the weekend, re-elected party president Verla DePeiza revealed that Stuart will run in the constituency of the City of Bridgetown, while Marc Laurent will contest Christ Church South, and local footballer Rasheed Belgrave will vie for the Christ Church East Central seat.
Stuart previously represented Solutions Barbados in the 2018 election but switched allegiance to the DLP later that year and quickly moved up the ranks, becoming general secretary in 2020. Weeks later, he was removed from the post pending the outcome of a marijuana possession charge against him.
According to the source, the branch executive was not notified by party headquarters that either Stuart or four others were interested in the candidacy in the City of Bridgetown.
The members were aware of former Member of Parliament Patrick Todd’s interest, since he had written to both the branch and party headquarters to express it, the branch spokesman said.
While acknowledging that a potential candidate is not obligated to write the branch, the group contended that George Street could have at least clued them into what was happening.
The spokesman said: “If it is a collaborative effort between the branch and [George Street] the decent thing to do would be to notify the branch. Then to select the candidate without even having the branch or executive committee in place or ask a question or inform them, the branch ain’t feel left out, the branch feels disrespected.
“It is total disrespect, because how can they think that the same candidate who is not fit to be general secretary could be fit to run in The City as the representative?”
The branch also scolded DePeiza for comments she made during the Voice of Barbados call-in programme Down to Brass Tacks last week.
The spokesman demanded a public apology for her stating the party’s City of Bridgetown branch was “not functioning”.
The DLP leader had chided the branch as the only one of 30 that was not functioning.
“The City has not met. I will not be putting our private information in the public domain, but The City will be sorted in short order,” DePeiza had said on the radio programme.
However, the branch executive spokesman said that since former candidate and treasurer Henderson Williams resigned from the party in February, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the executive had not been able to meet as it would like.
“The City branch is a branch that does be functioning and Verla know that too,” the spokesman told Barbados TODAY. “They know they could call on any of the City people from the branch that work tirelessly, and then this is the way they does treat us? There is no other branch that them could have gone and do that to. That is the honest truth. They think anything goes for the people in the City; not anything goes.
“There are a lot of City people that got their respect and integrity and they just can’t come and throw something at somebody and say ‘hold this, this is what wunna gine get’ and then you supposed to go along with it and don’t say anything?
“The same way the City people gine give respect to headquarters, well then the City people in the branch and its executive deserve the respect also.” (KC)
